The Engineeirng Behind Cheesecake

Just read the latest University News article posted today "New Assembly Process for Cheesecakes Designed for Wegmans." The article describes the work of six senior engineering students who worked with Wegmas (supermarket) to improve the assembly process of the stores cheesecakes. The process was featured at Imagine RIT last weekend. [http://www.rit.edu/news/story.php?id=48344]

I could not let that story go unnoticed - it is an awesome example of how broad the engineering world is, and a *taste* of the types of projects students are involved in during their academic years.

I did not go into engineering because I loved to play with Lego's when I was younger... I came into engineering because at the time I believed it was a field with the greatest opportunity for diversity. I did not know where I wanted to be in the five years, but I was confident that an engineering degree would allow me to go anywhere. With that in mind, I have been using my co-op blocks to test out different industries, different locations, different facets of mechanical engineering. I have worked on projects for everything from underwater submarines to space shuttles beyond our orbit; I have worked in product engineering (learning how to design products and production lines for maximum profit) and in the design world (creation without a budget - designing for the love of the subject rather then for the industry). I have learned that with an engineering degree I can chose to work with people - in product engineering I worked as the middle man between designers and companies; I can work on innovative products in a research or inventive company; I can enter the business side of engineering and use my technical knowledge to manage a team of engineers or sell a product.

I always try to highlight the diverity of the RIT co-op system on my tours. Students work everywhere from Fisher Price, to Frito Lay, to Lockheed Martin, to NASA - to Wegmans, making the dreams of cheesecake bakers come true with the new assembly process.... the opportunities are huge.